Join us for the official start of Art Car Weekend as caravans of Art Cars visit more than 20,000 people who otherwise may not be able to experience the Saturday Parade. The caravans stop at children’s hospitals, schools and community centers to spread smiles and the creative spirit with more than 80 Art Cars participating. The Main Street Drag begins and ends at the Houston Zoo.

· Sneak Peek at Discovery Green sponsored by Opportunity Houston

7 -10 p.m. at Discovery Green, 1500 McKinney Street

Sneak Peek will feature live music and entertainment throughout the park. On the main stage, noted Art Car filmmaker Harrod Blank will screen his latest work. Graffiti artists will use car hoods as canvas in a colorful demonstration. As the sun goes down, the park will become filled with illuminated Art Cars outfitted with special night lighting. Houston’s own Sideshow Tramps will take the stage for a free concert guaranteed to get the crowd moving.

Saturday, May 9

· The VIPit Party, 11 a.m. at the Heritage Society, 1100 Bagby

The official party of the Houston Art Car Parade offers the absolute best views and features a deluxe picnic lunch from some of Houston’s best restaurants, shaded bleacher seating, gift bags and fun family activities. In addition, there will be a kid’s art workshop sponsored by City Art Works, live DJs and Parade Commentary. The party is destined to sell out so advance purchase is encouraged.

· Tickets can be purchased by calling 713-926-6368.

Complimentary parking is located at 401 W. Dallas. The VIPit Party is wheelchair and stroller accessible. Proceeds go to the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art to defray Art Car Weekend expenses, guaranteeing that the parade stays a FREE gift to the City of Houston.

Watch as more than 250 rolling works of art turn concrete into a colorful canvas to celebrate the artist in everyone! The mobile masterpieces will motor down Allen Parkway in the world’s oldest and largest Art Car Parade, the Houston Art Car Parade. The Parade begins at Allen Parkway and Taft and ends at Montrose after looping around the Heritage Society. Plenty of viewing space is available along Allen Parkway between Taft and Bagby.

New features are added to the Parade every year. Here are some exciting additions for 2009:

· The Starting Line located at Taft Street and Allen Parkway, is where the party revs up as the Art Cars get in gear. Live music, DJs and parade commentary add to the festive atmosphere. Parade goers can grab a drink at the Bud Light Beer Garden and grab a seat for prime parade viewing on bleachers provided by sponsors.

· Capital One Bank Kid Zone (Allen Parkway at Sabine Street) is a place where families can watch the Parade, participate in activities such as making miniature Art Cars and have a chance for kids to paint on an actual Art Car or pet animals brought to the parade by the Houston Zoo! The Kid Zone also will feature family friendly entertainment as well as bleacher seating for parade viewing. Vending and restrooms will be located nearby.

(Guests wishing to attend the Kid Zone are encouraged to park downtown in the Theater District parking lots and walk west along Allen Parkway from Bagby Street).

· South Padre Island Sand Box where kids and adults alike can participate in a giant sandcastle extravaganza. Located in Eleanor Tinsley Park.

Sunday, May 10

Art Car Awards Ceremony & Brunch

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. at The Orange Show – 2402 Munger Street

The last blast of the weekend takes place at The Orange Show monument (2402 Munger Street) on Sunday, May 10, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Art Car Awards Ceremony and Brunch will feature live music and entertainment, food and drink, and artists selling their creations. This year’s winners will be announced at the awards ceremony with more than $10,000 in cash and prizes going to the best Art Car creations in 14 categories. This free event is open to the public.

Paul Slocum and his mad machines rock, but he's going to leave Tejas for colder pastures. RIP his baby and/or Gallery in Dallas, maybe the only thing in Dallas worth living for. Dallas artist should now move to New York or lie down on the freeway. It's the only way.

I am an artist and assistant curator writing on behalf of Culturehall, a relatively new arts website launched in June, in respect to your blog, “B.S. Houst Art Blog.” I’ve been enjoying your posts and found some similarities in our interests in contemporary art. Culturehall is based in New York City, and we are seeking to expand our inclusion of artists as well as our relationships with national and international arts sites.

Culturehall was founded by artist, David Andrew Frey, to promote emerging and established artists by creating an on-line community and curated space for contemporary work. Our community of artists is primarily composed of MFAs, art faculty and other art professionals. While a majority of our members are invited, we do also accept applications for review.

Please visit our site at: www. culturehall. com

We would be interested in exchanging links with you and fostering some dialogue with your site. David Andrew Frey is also available for interviews or more information.

In conjunction with Texas Folklife, Project Row Houses will be doing a screening of The Big Squeeze. The movie will be followed by performances by international Zydeco sensation Step Rideaux and 2008 Big Squeeze Winner (and Houstonian) John Ramirez.

Doors open at 6:30p.m. and the movie begins at 6:45p.m.2310 Elgin (@ Dowling) at the historic Eldorado Ballroom

Kelly Bennett, the master preparator at Blaffer Gallery, has flown the coop to Buffalo; this appeared shortly after she packed up the van and drove north. Any takers?

Museum Preparator at Blaffer Gallery

Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston, is seeking a qualified individual for the position of Museum Preparator to coordinate the fabrication, installation and disassembly of art exhibitions.

Specific job duties:1. Prepares, hangs, installs and de-installs works of art utilizing proper handling and security techniques.2. Selects, schedules and supervises installation crew for exhibition installations, packing and unpacking of loans, and special projects.3. Oversees the painting and construction of pedestals, vitrines, fixtures and other finished structures for the display of works of art.4. Collaborates with exhibition curators on the design and construction of special exhibit effects and temporary partitions.5. Implements procedures for installation of works of art to ensure installations meet safety requirements.6. Reviews upcoming projects to determine materials and services required; produces work schedules.7. Coordinates the care, maintenance and storage of the collection.8. Coordinates the scheduling of ongoing maintenance for galleries, and ensures that gallery spaces are well maintained and presentable to the public.9. Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications: Requires a 4 year degree. The ideal candidate will have previous experience in museum installation arrangement.

Robyn pumps for the 50 grand paycheck and comes up with a gusher. Too bad sponsors Hunting PLC think she's a dabbler from Kingwood, their lobotomized marketing department as efficient as an Astros pitcher and twice as bloated. It's sweet that she won. She's nice to everyone, even Benjy.

A death, a fall, a march: toward a better world

I would like to ask- do you think O'Neil's winning entry violates the Hunting Prize's banality inducing criteria to not "use bodily fluids, degradation of religion or government, and/or depiction of sexual acts or any... topic objectionable to Hunting PLC"? Isn't it a not-so-thinly-veiled criticism of society and government?

It’s a mess out there, and nothing demonstrates the relentless and grinding change and upheaval in Houston every few years than the fate of the Human Tour.

Every Way but the Right WayNo Zoning: Artists Engage Houston

Opening Friday, May 8, 7–10 pm

On view May 9 through October 4, 2009

Dan Havel and Dean Ruck, Give and Take, 2009pic by Chuy Benitez

Land Art in an urban setting, Michael Galbreth’s Human Tour, 1987, mapped the inner city of Houston, marking limbs with bronze plaques from Frost Town in the 5th Ward through downtown south to the Astrodome. His attempted anthropomorphization of the city streets was an attempt to reach the public in a new way. At first the dozens of markers spelled a clear path through the city’s core, but the city’s relentless growth has overgrown the map drawn onto it. Streets have changed; plaques were removed by construction workers and vandals. A few markers remain, giving curious pedestrians strange proclamations, like “You Are at the Right Hand of The City” along with directions to seek Human Tour maps at your local library. Today Galbreth’s project is a relic, a ruin only two decades after its creation.

A member of The Art Guys, Galbreth came to Houston from Tennessee. Open to the laissez-faire culture and open source urban planning dominated by developers with enough money to grease the wheels, he came to treat the glorified bayou of Houston as a landscape to by pushed and prodded, legally or illegally. Free from the zoning ordinances that shape other large American cities by separating residential, commercial, and industrial areas, Houston allows an approach where bizarre juxtapositions of architecture and sweeping concrete and steel overpasses multiply every year. In this chaotic urbanity, many Houston artists have been able to take to the streets, abandoned and unused lots and their own properties to transform banality into sustainable creativity. No Zoning: Artists Engage Houston considers the efforts of diverse artists working in this unique environment to grow mutated vines in the concrete soil of this toxic town.

The catalogue for No Zoning will include examples and documentation of city interventions and visionary structures from the punk rock days of the budding art car movement and the Lawndale Annex in the 1980s, 90s experimental art spaces like CSAW, Templo, Sharon Engelstein’s mini-gallery and The Artery as well as current alternative spaces like Bill’s Junk, Westheimer Block Party, The Aurora Picture Show and The Flower Man’s house. The exhibition will incorporate performances, lectures and video screenings during the museum's extended Thursday evening hours to enliven the exhibition throughout its run. Throughout the city, the CAMH will sponsor educational, historical and artistic events—seriously, this is a call to anyone who’s been to those parties in underground warehouses, Montrose bungalows, parks, streets and festivals—you’re the blood that makes this artworld flow.